Japan's Toyobo buys stake in Chinese labeling film joint venture

By: PLASTICS NEWS CHINA

March 22, 2013

OSAKA, JAPAN — In a move to gain an advantage in China's burgeoning market for plastic bottle labeling film, Japanese company Toyobo Co. Ltd. has signed an investment contract to control 15 percent of SKC (Jiangsu) High Tech Plastics Co. Ltd. in China. The Chinese company is a joint venture with SKC Co. Ltd. (SKC), the film and chemical manufacturer of the SK Group, the third-largest conglomerate in South Korea.

Osaka-based Toyobo considers the China market for thermal shrinkage films for PET bottle labeling an especially promising one, as it boasts an annual consumption level of 120,000 tons and demand continues to rise. Currently China's thermal shrinkage film is made from PVC, but Toyobo has developed and marketed Spaceclean, its own film technology using resins made of recycled PET bottles. In 2010, Toyobo launched a new shrinking polyester film that it claims is the thinnest in the world at 20 micrometers. Toyobo hopes to develop Spaceclean for the market in China.

With the signing of the contract in mid-March, the company is now comprised of Seoul, South Korea-based SKC with 43.3 percent, SK China with 33.1 percent and Toyobo with 15 percent, with the rest held by three other companies. Including Toyobo's investment of US$8,823,530, the company has a total of US$58,823,530 in paid-up capital.